Research

How do people interpret design? How does design affect human behavior? It turns out that the visual system interprets incoming signals (and therefore, visual design) through the emotion centers of the brain. In fact, the system is so efficient that we interpret the visual scene even without paying attention. An ongoing curiosity about these subjects and desire to understand the design roots of visual literacy are the bases Koch’s current design research activity: She is currently investigating how people interpret typestyles. Her research seeks to understand the underlying structure of visual language; her study of typestyles exposed the design features that people respond to emotionally. Her article “Emotion in typographic design: An empirical examination.” was published in Visible Language 46(3), in 2012. Koch has taught and spoken internationally on topics including emotional effects of typestyles, effective design for interactive learning, international packaging design, and design education.